This is a list of historically significant gay anthems.
Year released Song title Artist(s) Notes1920"The Lavender Song" ("Das Lila Lied")1928"Prove It On Me"Ma Rainey1929"If Love Were All"Written for the operetta Bitter Sweet.1932"Mad About the Boy"1937"Easy Living", Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra"My Funny Valentine"Rodgers and Hart1938"Lush Life"1939"Over the Rainbow"Featured in the film The Wizard of Oz. Written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. This song and the film gained such a following that gay men would use the phrase "friends of Dorothy" to refer to themselves.1952 "Hound Dog" Big Mama Thornton1953"Secret Love"Written by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster for the queer-coded film Calamity Jane, the song was embraced by the LGBTQ community as an anthem for expressing the joy of gay liberation. When asked about how she felt during a 2011 interview with The Advocate, she replied, "I was not aware of that, but that's wonderful."1954"The Man That Got Away"1955 "Tutti Frutti" Little Richard1957"Somewhere (There's a Place for Us)"From the musical West Side Story1958"My Baby Just Cares for Me"Nina Simone"Secretly"Jimmie Rodgers1960"As Long as He Needs Me"Shirley Bassey1961'"Nous les amoureux"Jean-Claude PascalPascal later claimed that the song was about a homosexual relationship and the difficulties it faced.1962"The Man I Love"Gene Howard"Happiness is a Thing Called Joe"Troy Walker1963"Hello Stranger"Barbara Lewis1964"You Don't Own Me"Lesley Gore1966"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me"Dusty Springfield"Ballad of the Sad Young Men"Roberta Flack1968"Don't Rain on My Parade"Barbra Streisand1970"Ain't No Mountain High Enough""Lola"The Kinks"You Don't Own Me"Dusty Springfield1971"March from a Clockwork Orange"Wendy Carlos"Stonewall Nation"Madeleine Davis"It Must Be Love"Labi Siffre1972"Walk on the Wild Side"Lou Reed"All the Young Dudes"Mott the Hoople"Friends""Starman"1974"Rebel Rebel""I Will Always Love You""Jolene""Love Is the Message"MFSB"The Bitch Is Back"Elton John1975"I Was Born This Way"Carl BeanValentino"Home"Introduced by Stephanie Mills Popularised by Diana Ross"Landslide"Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac1976"Dancing Queen"ABBA"The Killing of Georgie"Rod Stewart"Turn the Beat Around"Vicki Sue Robinson"Somebody to Love"Queen1977"I Feel Love"Donna Summer"Gold Dust Woman"Fleetwood Mac1978"Got to Be Real"Cheryl Lynn"Baby I'm Burning""I Will Survive"Gloria Gaynor"Glad to Be Gay"Tom Robinson Band"You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)"Sylvester"I Love the Nightlife""Macho Man"Village People"Y.M.C.A.""Last Dance"Donna Summer"I'm Every Woman"Chaka Khan"Pride"Grace Jones1979"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"ABBA"Boys Keep Swinging""You Know How to Love Me"Phyllis Hyman"Don't Stop Me Now"Queen"It's My House""We Are Family"Sister Sledge"Knock on Wood" Gale document no. GALE|CX3468302576."Rainbow Connection"Kermit the Frog"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand"Go West"Village People "Stars" Sylvester1980"I'm Coming Out""9 to 5" "" Idoli One of the first songs with a gay theme from Serbia."Private Idaho"The B-52's"Never Knew Love Like This Before"Stephanie Mills1981"Menergy"Patrick Cowley"Pull Up to the Bumper"Grace Jones"Puerto Pollensa"Written by Marilina Ross. First popularized by Sandra Mihanovich"Tainted Love"Soft Cell1982"Edge of Seventeen"Stevie Nicks"Do You Really Want to Hurt Me"Culture Club"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going""It's Raining Men"The Weather Girls"Love My Way"The Psychedelic Furs"Right on Target"Paul Parker1983"Church of the Poison Mind"Culture Club"This Charming Man"The Smiths"So Many Men, So Little Time"Miquel Brown"Rise Up"The Parachute Club"Relax"Frankie Goes to Hollywood"I Am What I Am"From the musical La Cage aux Folles.Gloria Gaynor"Holiday"Madonna1984"Din Daa Daa"George Kranz"Smalltown Boy"Bronski Beat"Why?""You Think You're a Man"Divine"I Want to Break Free"Queen1985"Conga"Miami Sound Machine"Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves"Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin"How Will I Know""Miss Celie's Blues", Rod Temperton and Lionel Richie Also known as "Sister" from the film The Color Purple. Sung by the character Shug to Celie in the film, this song has been called an anthem for the Black lesbian community."Running Up That Hill"Kate Bush"So Macho"Sinitta, written by George Hargreaves1986"¿A quién le importa?"Alaska y DinaramaGay anthem in the Spanish-speaking world."Don't Leave Me This Way"The Communards"Oh L'amour"Erasure"Libertine"Mylène Farmer Gay anthem in the French-speaking world"Kiss"Prince"True Colors"Cyndi Lauper1987"Seven Wonders"Fleetwood Mac"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)""It's a Sin"Pet Shop Boys"Sans contrefaçon"Mylène Farmer Gay anthem in the French-speaking world1988"A Little Respect"Erasure"Heaven Is a Place on Earth"Belinda Carlisle"Fast Car"Tracy Chapman"Mujer contra mujer" ("Une femme avec une femme")MecanoGay anthem in the Spanish and French-speaking world.1989"Work That Pussy" (Boom Boom remix)Ellis D"Elements of Vogue" (David DePino mix)David Xtravaganza and Johnny Dynell"Deep in Vogue"Malcolm McLaren"Let's Go"Fast Eddie"In Private"Dusty Springfield"Express Yourself"Madonna"Like a Prayer""If I Could Turn Back Time"Cher"Closer to Fine"Indigo Girls"Part of Your World" (from the film The Little Mermaid)Composed by Ashman and Menken